North Bergen man is running half-marathon Sunday in tribute to older sister who died young

Michael Hesleitner, a North Bergen resident who is running the New Jersey Marathon Sunday to raise money for his deceased sister, Jennifer.

A young North Bergen man, a self-described “couch potato,” will run 13.1 miles on Sunday to pay tribute to his deceased sister.

“I didn’t grasp the relationship we had at the time, but I want to try and make her proud and have her look down on me with a smile,” said Michael Hesleitner, 25.

After a more than two-year struggle, his sister Jennifer, 14 at the time, died from Hodgkin’s Disease on June 18, 1997, while she was a freshman at North Bergen High School.

Michael, a North Bergen High graduate, has been preparing for the race with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training and has raised about $3,200 through donations from friends, family and co-workers, far exceeding the minimum $2,100 required.

Hesleitner, who has been training and fundraising since late November, will put his mind and body to the test at the Long Branch Half Marathon, part of the New Jersey Marathon series. Half-marathon runners report to the starting line at 6:50 a.m.

“I’ve been running three to five miles during the week and eight to 11 miles on the weekend with the LLSTIT team,” Hesleitner said, joking that he has been a “couch potato” his whole life and hasn’t been in shape since he played Little League baseball.

He has been training around his production staff job at Bergen Community College, where he earned his associate’s degree in theater.

Jennifer Hesleitner was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease at Hackensack University Medical Center in June 1995. She was in remission for the latter half of 1996, but suffered a relapse at the end of the year.

Although it has been 15 years, Michael hasn’t forgotten his sister.

“I wanted to do something to preserve her memory,” he said, noting that this may be the first of many races if all goes well.